Friday, August 29, 2008

Sibling Rivalry

Sorry for, yet again, the long wait between posts. I turned in a project on Thursday that I have been working on with my team for almost 4 months. Of course, now we have to go through the editing & revision process, but I am pleased to at least have finished and briefed the first draft...and I briefed the shit out of that mutha'!* Some of you may have noticed that I completed my project on Thursday and it is now Monday. To those people I say, have you met my kids? Speaking of which, I have to share a little annecdote that I can't decide whether it is amusing or disturbing or, quite possibly, a little of both. Recently J has had a couple of incidents where she sneaks into A's room after he's been put down for the night and pulls his legs through his crib. We noticed this because a) A screams like a maniac and b) his legs are through the slats of the crib. Of course J gets into big trouble for this, but this last time I felt compelled to ask why she would do such a thing because, seriously, who does that?! I asked her very nochalantly over coloring:

Me: Why did you hurt A?
J: I not hurt A.
Me: But, why would you pull his legs through the crib? That's not very nice.
J: I didn't want that.
Me: What didn't you want?
J: *very matter-of-factly* A.


We then discussed that regardless of what you want, you still can't hurt other people, and J has not done anything like that since, but still...is that not totally crazy? Apparently my older sister used to toddle up and stroke my hair while my mom was nursing me and then yank on it when she wasn't looking, so I guess siblin rivalry starts early in our family ;)

Here's some pics of the kids that my mom took. I wish I had one of V to share with you, but she was having none of the picture taking as you can see from the one with her & J!











*Only someone as white as I would punctuate mutha'

5 comments:

Lakeview Coffee Joe said...

Nice pictures!! That IS an odd story....hmmm, not being a parent, I can't really comment intelligently....so just a normal post for me!!

alexis said...

surely this is something to be observed in family strife ?

Anonymous said...

Seems odd to me given the total tranquility of your own years growing up with your sisters.

stef said...

I think it is more likely that it is totally natural for J to feel that way. And remember- she doesn't have the vocabulary yet to express more complex feelings. As I recall- you weren't too excited about AinA either. I think you are handling it well so far but I bet there are some books out there you could find that might help you too.

Laura said...

Having been in J's position--living a great life for 18 months until this little boy comes along and takes away all the attention--I can sympathize with her feelings. Some day she'll be great friends with him and be happy to have him. Until then, you're doing great by keeping her from causing him too much physical harm :)